"If you want something not to work, create a commission"
"Sí quieres que Algo no funcione, Crea una comisión." I read an article with that idea — quite interesting — and I totally agree with the text. The phrase captures a frustrating reality: too often commissions are used not to solve urgent problems but to postpone action.
In most places in the world, whether you are in Asia, India, Europe, America or including Africa, and even within international organizations such as the UN, human rights commissions or many other international bodies, many commissions are formed with the effect of prolonging actions that need immediate implementation. These commissions are made to resolve problems but normally they prolong the problem rather than solve it.
Commissions often take unclear decisions because of variations in the arguments and positions of the participants. Members debate and try to reach a consensus that would actually solve the problem, but frequently they do not. Instead, commissions extend their period of work, and in doing so the members retain the power to keep deciding, or keep avoiding decisions.
Many commissions focus more on prolonging their work than on finding an approach that is truly effective and able to solve the problem. In many parliaments the matter is handed to a commission after long debates: the parliament debates for many days and then forms a commission. Why? Why not reach a solution after so many days of debate? Parliamentarians seem to believe that a formed commission, by debating, arguing, inviting subject experts and people directly related to or affected by the problem, will reach a solution.
But normally the commission always argues to extend its duration: one term, then a second term, then a third. Many turns later, perhaps after years, they come up with reports full of arguments and some decisions that are indeed unclear. Then again a new commission will be formed. The cycle repeats.
So it is very clear: if you want something not to work, make a commission. The creation of commissions becomes, in practice, a method to delay, to diffuse responsibility and to preserve privileges for those involved in the decision-making process.
This pattern has real consequences: urgent problems remain unresolved, citizens’ expectations are frustrated, and institutions lose credibility. If the goal is genuine problem solving, forming yet another commission should not be the automatic answer.
Instead, when a commission is genuinely necessary it must be designed with strict limits and clear accountability: a fixed, non-extendable deadline; a precise mandate; transparent proceedings; balanced membership without vested interests; and clear, enforceable follow-up mechanisms. Without those guardrails, commissions become an efficient way to ensure that nothing ever gets done.
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